Lotus 76
The Lotus 76 was a Formula 1 racing car , built and used in 1974 by the British Formula 1 team Lotus .
The Lotus 76 was developed by Colin Chapman and Ralph Bellamy and was supposed to replace the Lotus 72 , which was already in service for the fourth season in 1973 . The aerodynamics of the car were fundamentally improved and the vehicle was light, just under the permissible minimum weight. The suspensions, internal brakes and V8 engine of the 72 were taken over by Cosworth . The big innovation was the new electronic clutch, which could be operated using a gear shift button. The driver only had to press the pedal at the start. However, the concept was not fully developed and the system was not used in the race.
The car was officially referred to as the John Player Special MK I , Colin Chapman responding to an urgent request from the main sponsor, who insisted on the name change.
The new clutch turned out to be a problem during the test drives. The car could hardly be shifted and the two drivers Ronnie Peterson and Jacky Ickx demanded a return to a conventional clutch. The car made its debut at the 1974 South African Grand Prix and although Peterson and Ickx were briefly in the lead at the Spanish Grand Prix , the car turned out to be a bad design over the course of the season. The team therefore resorted to the tried and tested 72. In the summer, Chapman tried to save the 76 by connecting the front chassis to the rear of the 72. But this variant was also a failure and the 76 finally disappeared from the racetracks.
literature
- David Hodges: A – Z of Formula Racing Cars. Bay View Books, Bideford 1990, ISBN 1-870979-16-8 .
- German: David Hodges: Racing cars from A – Z after 1945. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-613-01477-7 .
